C Spire has announced its intention to deploy more than 33 miles of underground fiber broadband network in unserved parts of Hinds, Madison, Amite, and Pike counties in the company’s home state of Mississippi. The fiber network deployments partially are being funded via a Mississippi Broadband COVID-19 program award. C Spire says it expects to begin services, including gigabit broadband, over the new fiber networks this December.
C Spire says the deployment of fiber in rural Hinds County along Highway 18 southwest of Raymond and northwest of Utica along Highway 27 will benefit “dozens of residents.” Further deployments will target businesses in Canton west of Interstate 55 along Virlilia Road in north central Madison County. In the southwest part of the state, C Spire will target rural residents and businesses in an area southwest of the town of Liberty in Amite County with fiber along Highway 48. Finally, in Pike County, C Spire will deploy fiber for residents north of Osyka along Highway 51 and west of Osyka along Highway 584 and Old Mill Road.
To pay for the deployments, C Spire will match the award it received from the Mississippi Broadband COVID-19 program, which will disperse $75 million in federal grant funds to 19 recipients. "Our current public health crisis has shown that Mississippians are in critical need of fast, reliable, symmetric broadband internet service," said C Spire CEO Hu Meena. "This program will help get more broadband in more places more quickly by relying on public-private partnerships to expand the availability of high-quality, symmetric internet access."
C Spire, primarily a mobile services supplier, entered the fiber broadband space in Mississippi in 2013 (see "C Spire opens FTTH pre-registration"). It announced plans to expand into parts of Alabama at the end of last year (see "C Spire to expand FTTP footprint into Alabama").
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